Produce Your Own Food
In recent decades, gardening has become increasingly popular in the US. Upwards of 1 in every 3 (roughly 42 million) households in the US are engaged in gardening in some form. Food production is typically at least part of the focus as the public recognizes that local and home-grown produce is fresher, healthier, and more sustainable than those shipped from across the country or across the world.
In areas where population or lifestyle leaves residents without enough space for a sprawling garden, alternatives like vertical gardening, hydroponics, and aeroponics have been gaining popularity. Each option has distinct advantages, but aeroponics is especially compelling, not least because the practice produces crops with a rich flavor and antioxidant profile, but because aeroponic systems also produce larger yields, typically by around 30%, versus soil grown. Researchers at the University of Mississippi compared aeroponic yields to soil-grown yields for both leafy and fruiting crops and the results were impressive:
Basil – 19% increase
Chard – 8% increase
Red kale – 65% increase
Parsley – 21% increase
Bell pepper – 53% increase
Cherry tomatoes – 35% increase
Cucumber – 7% increase
Squash – 50% increase
Nutritious Food, Fast
In our busy lives, time is a precious resource and we expect fast results in nearly all of our efforts. Gardening has historically been a culture of time and patience, with results dependent on the vagaries of nature. The unique features of aeroponic production, however, have proven to increase growth rates up to 3 times versus their soil grown counterparts. In aeroponically grown plants, yields are more consistent, predictable, and troubled less by diseases and pests.
Aeroponics systems allow home gardeners to produce their own food in conditions which are easier to control and manage. Their efforts can yield bumper crops of healthy, fresh, and delicious fruits and vegetables without the need to battle aphids, slugs, diseases, droughts, and late frosts.
When Space is Limited
In traditional gardens, your choice of crop and how much food you can produce depends largely on how much land you have. If you want to supply a significant share of your family’s annual diet, you’ll need a lot of space. But not just any space will do. It needs to have the right amount of sun, the right soil type and drainage properties, and a microclimate suitable to your chosen crops’ needs. These demands can become overwhelming, especially in a time when land is increasingly scarce. The days of sprawling homesteads on multi-acre plots are largely gone; today, families are more likely to live in closely packed urban environments or in suburban developments with houses set cheek-by-jowl on lots of ¼ acre or less. For most US residents, therefore, the opportunity to provide their own food seems out of reach.
Innovative practices such as vertical gardening, hydroponics, and aeroponics address the space problems associated with traditional soil cultivation. Since none of these practices involve ground-grown plants, the actual arrangement of the growing environment can be adjusted according to available space. Aeroponics systems in a vertical setup, for example, require as little as 10% of the square footage needed for traditional soil-grown gardening.
Dirty Dirt
Even when individuals have access to enough space to start a traditional garden, whether it’s in their own backyard or a community plot, there could be hidden health hazards hidden in the ground itself. Most city gardeners are probably aware that lead is a common contaminant and testing is necessary for their abandoned lot newly designated for a community garden, but most aren’t as well informed about other potential pollutants like cleaning solvents and accumulated toxins found in car exhaust, both of which include known carcinogens. Unfortunately, you can’t tell plain ole dirt from contaminated dirt, and soil testing laboratories rarely test for these dangerous contaminants.
Contaminated Soil
City soil, in particular, has often been exposed to a nasty variety of pollutants, including heavy metals, petrochemicals, and asbestos. Any of these pollutants may be absorbed by the plants you grow, or in the case of asbestos, may be stirred up during cultivation and harvest of produce, presenting significant cumulative health threats to both gardeners and their families.
Pesticides, Herbicides, and Fertilizers — Oh My!
Land in urban and suburban environments, particularly in neighborhood and commercial areas, has typically been regularly treated with a wide variety of chemicals to ensure that, in any specific plot, only approved plants can grow, and that they grow under approved conditions. Residual weed killers, poisons aimed for common pests, and an overabundance of fertilizers can render soil essentially sterile, but even worse, plants that manage to grow in that soil can absorb those leftover pollutants. Children, especially, are vulnerable to health effects associated with exposure to these chemicals.
Raised Beds
In community gardens and backyard plots, raised beds with commercial potting soil are a popular answer to both poor soil and backaches, but care is necessary in those cases too. It’s tempting, when working on a budget or in an effort to be environmentally responsible, to recycle old wood, perhaps from a construction area or from a demolition site. But that wood could be treated with chemicals, painted with lead paint, or exposed to asbestos that can endanger your gardeners and contaminate your veggies. All in all, it’s not worth the risk.
Hydroponics and aeroponics are soilless growing systems where plants have no direct contact with existing soil, which effectively eliminates concerns about contaminated dirt. These systems are even easily adaptable to situations where there isn’t a suitable open lot, but an abandoned building in good structural condition is available. A few hundred square feet of vertically arranged aeroponics tiles can feed up to 10 times as many neighbors as the same size of ground plot. Even better, vertical gardening offers the same back relief as raised beds!
Eco-friendly
As the world becomes more aware of threats to the climate, the environment, and natural resources of our planet, there is an increasing push towards solutions that honor and support the planet’s ecosystems. Sustainability has become an oft-stated goal for any endeavor, meaning that any activity, means of production, or development should give back to the planet’s resources in an amount and value at least equivalent to what has been expended. This is a complex calculation, and not everyone agrees on what qualifies as sustainable. In the broad picture, however, aquaponics is clearly an eco-friendly and sustainable method of food production. Aeroponics hobbyists can feel confident that they’re supporting the long term health of the planet by producing food for their own families (and perhaps their neighbors’) in a healthy, sustainable way.
